


A Fool For Blondes

by The_Rifleman



Category: King Kong (1933), King Kong (2005), Kong: Skull Island (2017), Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Gen, Kaiju
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-06
Updated: 2017-02-07
Packaged: 2018-05-31 14:50:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6474628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Rifleman/pseuds/The_Rifleman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mako Mori must team up with a new ally to save Raleigh from the clutches of King Kong. Literally.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Beach Buds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Please, if you like this, let me know. Comment, give kudos, share it with your friends who also like Pacific Rim/King Kong. Thanks.*

Ever since the Pacific Rim breach was sealed three years ago, the rangers responsible for closing it, Raleigh Becket and Mako Mori, had managed to find plenty of other things to do to keep themselves and their jaeger, Gipsy Danger, busy. The kaiju that came through the breach were not the only giant monsters in the world that needed fighting, what with genetic experimentation, atomic induced mutations, and just your average everyday evolutionary anomalies running rampant throughout the world.

Presently, though, the two partners were on down time. They were stationed in Honolulu now, on the island of O'ahu along with many other members of the Pan Pacific Defense Corps that they had worked with at the Hong Kong Shatterdome. Since this new Shatterdome was opened in Hawaii, mostly as a research center, it had basically become the place where anyone worthy of something like a vacation was put, and heroes who saved the world certainly fell under that category.

The beaches of O'ahu were beautiful all year round, so Mako and Raleigh took full advantage of that during their time off from combat training. Mako, a Japanese woman with brown eyes and short, dark hair with blue streaks in it, would lounge on a blanket in the sand wearing her black, one-piece bathing suit, usually reading a book on ancient weaponry or the history of war, while Raleigh, a blonde, athletic American man, surfed the waves just off shore.

On one particularly warm day in July the two of them were in their usual routine when Raleigh paddled his board in, stuck it in the sand, and approached Mako. He wore blue and white Hawaiian print trunks, no shirt, and dog tags around his neck. He came up beside Mako, blocking her sun.

"Hey, you wanna do something fun?" he asked.

She knew what his idea of fun was, but looked at him and nodded anyway out of morbid curiosity.

"Let's take Gipsy out later and patrol the island," he said.

Mako frowned and looked down.

"You know we cannot," she said quietly. "We are not allowed to pilot unless there is a genuine threat."

Raleigh groaned loudly, like a little kid denied the chance to play their favorite game.

"I don't care anymore," he said. "It's been ages since we've piloted. I need to do something besides just work out all day and turn into a beach bum," he complained.

"I grow tired of the monotony too, but it is the rules," she said, turning a page in her book and paying more attention to it, than to him.

"You know how I feel about rules," he said.

She looked up and found him smiling at her. In spite of herself, she smiled back. She knew if this conversation continued further she'd be piloting Gipsy Danger out of the Shatterdome against orders within the hour, but thankfully at that moment something interrupted them; a fat, old bulldog came running up and went right for Mako's lap.

"Hello, boy," she said as she pet it.

Raleigh rolled his eyes. He still wanted to argue his case.

That would not be possible, however, as the dog's owner came up behind him. It was Marshal Hercules Hansen, their commanding officer and head of the new Shatterdome.

"Hey, I need you two to get dressed and head to sector five within the hour," he said to them both in a stern, yet friendly Australian accent. There was no preamble.

Raleigh and Mako both looked hopeful. Sector five was where their jaeger was kept.

"What's goin' on?" asked Raleigh.

"You'll find out when you get there," said Marshal Hansen. Then to his dog he said, "Come on, Max, let's finish our walk. Leave the lady alone." The dog obeyed and followed its master back up the beach towards the Shatterdome.

"You may get your wish after all," Mako said to Raleigh as she closed her book and stood up. She walked past Raleigh, who ran his fingers through his damp, blonde hair. He smiled as he watched her walk away and then said, "Yeah", and followed after her.


	2. The Mysterious Dr. Jericho

Raleigh was not happy when he and Mako got to sector five. It turned out that all they were needed for was some neural tests and calibrations that were being done to Gipsy Danger.

They got to put on their drivesuits, get into the jaeger, and even climb into the steering apparatus, but not actually pilot the thing itself. All in all it was one big cock tease, so after they were done Raleigh went to his room to sulk.

Mako, on the other hand, volunteered to bring some reports down to the science division, because it gave her a chance to see her old friends, Dr. Hermann Gottlieb and Dr. Newton Geiszler, who worked in kaiju research, which was right next to medical, where the reports were needed. She had known both men since they had all worked together at the Hong Kong Shatterdome, but she hadn't had a chance to catch up with them in a while.

As she entered the science division of the Shatterdome, she hugged herself tightly. It was always so cold and sterile in the gray, metallic hallways. She headed past sector nine, straight to sector ten, and knocked on the large metal door that was the entrance to that lab. It quickly made a decompressing sound and slid open. Standing behind it was a pale man with an open face and a bad haircut. He was dressed like an old professor twice his age and supported himself on a wooden cane.

"Ah, Ms. Mori," said Dr. Gottlieb. "What a surprise." He sounded very formal with a German accent.

From behind him a small man with wild brown hair and thick glasses shouted "Howdy" and waved emphatically. The sleeves of his white shirt were rolled up and both of his arms were covered in tattoos and some kind of slime from whatever it was he was working on at the table he was at.

"Hello, Dr. Gottlieb, Dr. Geiszler," Mako said, giving them a slight bow.

"What brings you all the way down here, my dear?" asked Dr. Gottlieb, softly.

"I'm taking these brainscans to Dr. Leads in medical. I thought I would stop by and say hello to you both since your lab is on the way," said Mako.

"Oh, how nice," said Dr. Gottlieb, smiling. "I'm afraid hellos are all we really have time for, however, as Newton is elbow deep in something or other and I simply must get back to my new equation. Just because the kaiju attacks have stopped doesn't mean the research has."

"I see," said Mako, looking disappointed. "Well, keep up the good work. Good day to you both." She bowed again and walked away from the door and down the hall.

"You should have told her about that thing you were telling me about a little while ago," said Dr. Geiszler, without looking up from what he was doing. "I bet she could have shed some light on it, considering she went to the other side of the breach and all."

Gottlieb, who still stood at the open door, suddenly opened his eyes wide. "By jove, you're right!" he shouted, and then began to go after Mako as fast as he could with his limp and cane.

Geiszler just laughed to himself and went back to his business. Only five minutes passed before Gottlieb came hobbling back into the lab with a grave expression on his face.

"Newton, come and take a look at this," he said.

Geiszler looked up from his research and saw his colleague's face. It made him both suddenly curious and worried.

After washing his hands and straightening his plain, black tie, Geiszler followed Dr. Gottlieb out of their lab and down the hall to the next one, sector eleven.

Sector eleven was highly restricted and was the domain of the mysterious Dr. Clifford Jericho, the head of kaiju research at the Honolulu Shatterdome and technically their boss, although they had only ever interacted with him three or four times. Mostly he kept to himself within sector eleven and the doors were always closed and locked. Except now.

Now Geiszler and Gottlieb stood staring at the huge entrance to the lab, which was big enough to fit an eighteen wheeler through. The metal double doors were open and the electronic key pad on the wall next to them seemed to be off.

"I've never seen the doors left open before," said Geiszler, flabbergasted.

"I've never seen the doors open at all," said Gottlieb. "Not for anyone. Not even Dr. Jericho."

Geiszler looked at his fellow scientist.

"Should we...?" he said.

"Should we what?" Gottlieb demanded.

"Go in," Geiszler said, gesturing forward with his hands.

"Absolutely not," said Gottlieb. "Sector eleven is off limits to us. Dr. Jericho would have our heads and our jobs."

"Oh, blah, blah, blah," Geiszler said in his high-pitched, manic voice. "Ya know, considering we're the ones that drifted with a kaiju and pretty much saved the world I don't see why he gets to be head of kaiju research in the first place, I mean, what's he ever done in the field?"

"That is not our place to say," Gottlieb retorted quickly.

"Well, I'm not afraid of the guy," said Geiszler. "And further more, I'm going in, because... maybe something's wrong. Maybe someone broke in there. I'm gonna go bust 'em and be a hero."

With that he charged into the lab before Gottlieb could stop him. All the German could do was reluctantly follow.

Sector eleven was the size of an airplane hanger inside and looked like the kind of place that would house jaegers rather than a research laboratory. There were small offices off to one side and equipment littered about the room, but the majority of the space was empty, except for some large glass tubes up against one wall.

"This is like ten times as big as our lab!" yelled Geiszler at the top of his lungs. "What's he got in here, full grown kaiju?"

Gottlieb cleared his throat and nudged Geiszler's arm indicating he should look at the glass tubes. They all went from the floor to the ceiling, which was a hundred feet high. Most were empty, but one was not. Inside one tube, standing stock still with its arms at its side, was what appeared to be a giant gorilla with dark brown fur.

Geiszler's mouth dropped open and he ran over to the tube. Gottlieb followed once again.

"What on Earth is that?" Dr. Gottlieb said in awe as they stood at the feet of the great ape.

Dr. Geiszler all but exploded.

"What?!" he said, grabbing his head with both hands and jumping around excitedly. "You don't know who that is? It's Kong! King Kong actually. The eighth wonder of the world!"

"Do please settle down," Dr. Gottlieb said, calmly. "Not all of us grew up collecting monster cards the way you did. Excuse me if I was busy spending my free time as a boy studying science like a scientist would instead of fawning over giant beasts."

"Giant beasts?" said Geiszler in disbelief. "Kong is not just some beast, he's THE beast." He began to unbutton his shirt hurriedly, which made Dr. Gottlieb nervous. Once he had gotten his tie loose and was able to pull his shirt off enough to show his back, he turned around revealing a huge tattoo of Kong right between his shoulder blades. The gorilla was tearing through a large wall in a similar manner to the way the kaiju, Mutavore, broke through the coastal wall years prior.

Gottlieb rolled his eyes.

"See that wall?" said Geiszler, "That's the wall the natives on his island used to contain him. He busted through it, though. It's actually what gave the government the idea to build the coastal wall to keep the kaiju out. Why they thought history wouldn't repeat itself, I don't know, but then again they never seem to learn from..."

He trailed off as he noticed Gottlieb making some odd, frantic gestures indicating he should turn around. He did and came face to face with Dr. Jericho, who had somehow silently snuck up on him.

Dr. Clifford Jericho was a severe looking man in his fifties who kind of looked like Albert Einstein, except he was bald and didn't have a mustache. He was wearing a purple nehru jacket and a frown.

"Dr. Geiszler, please be so kind as to put your shirt back on and tell me what you are doing in my lab?" he said in a vague and foreign accent.

Geiszler did as he was told.

"Well, I... I... I..." he stammered.

Dr. Jericho ignored him and looked to Gottlieb.

"Please forgive us, doctor, my colleague and I saw the door open and thought something might be wrong," said Gottlieb.

"It's just that your door is never open and we thought that maybe someone might have broken in and-" sputtered Geiszler.

"Shut up, Newton," Dr. Gottlieb growled.

"Well," said Dr. Jericho, eyeing both men carefully, "No harm done. A simple electrical malfunction of the doors, I'm sure. Technology fails us at every turn. As fellow scientists we must protect each other from... spies and intruders, must we not?" He smiled in a creepy way and then walked past them both and towards the tube with Kong in it.

"I see you are familiar with my friend, Dr. Geiszler," Jericho said, gesturing at the big gorilla.

"Are you kidding, I love Kong," said Geiszler, excited as a kid.

"Good. Then I'm sure you will be thrilled about what I have planned for him," said Dr. Jericho.

"P-p-planned?" said Dr. Geiszler.

"Yes, I've recently acquired several of Earth's native kaiju. The ones that the general public assumed dead long ago," said Dr. Jericho. He turned and addressed the other scientists face to face. "They are not dead, however, merely sleeping in a state of cryogenic preservation, and I will wake them up."

Gottlieb and Geiszler both stared at Jericho in surprise.

"Wake them up," said Geiszler, "Why would you do that? And what other ones?"

"Oh, just a few smaller ones. Well, smaller than Kong anyway," said Jericho with a small chuckle. "And come now, Dr. Geiszler, I thought you were what Dr. Gottlieb refers to as a 'kaiju groupie', surly you must be excited at the prospect of these great creatures roaming the Earth again?"

Geiszler frowned at the fact that 'kaiju groupie' was becoming a common phrase associated with him. "I mean, they're cool and all," he said, "but I think that history has shown again and again that nature points out the folly of man, dude."

Gottlieb gave him a sideways glance.

"What I think he's trying to say is that in light of recent events, maybe bringing more monsters into the world is not such a good idea, even if it is for science," said Gottlieb.

"Not just science," Dr. Jericho said, a reverence entering his voice the way it does for all mad scientists when they talk about their life's work. "But for the betterment of mankind."

Gottlieb and Geiszler looked at each other.

"When the breach, or another one like it, inevitably opens up again, these creatures will be our new line of defense. Using a new type of mind control technology developed by myself, we will be able to fight fire with fire. Monster with monster. The jaeger program will be no more and the world will be truly safe."

He looked at his fellow scientists, triumphantly.

"Better living through kaiju, gentlemen."

"K, we should get back to our own work now," said Dr. Geiszler, grabbing Gottlieb by the shoulder and maneuvering him forward.

"Yes, so much to do, you know," said Gottlieb, nervously.

"Yes, I as well," said Jericho. "My technicians will be in soon and we have much work to do this evening."

"Sounds great," Geiszler said, as he shoved his colleague along. "Love what your doing here. Love all of it. Props on the Kong." He gave the doctor a thumbs up and then turned to Gottlieb as soon as they were out of earshot.

"That man is a fruitcake," he whispered.

"Obviously," Gottlieb whispered back.

Jericho watched them go with an unfathomable expression on his face.

"We need to talk to Hansen right away," whispered Geiszler.

"Right oh," Gottlieb whispered back. "Did you just quote Blue Oyster Cult to him, by the way?"

"What? No. How do you...?" Geiszler answered, quickly.

"Oh, I'm hipper than you may think, Newton. Believe you me," said Gottlieb.

And with that the two scientists hurried out of sector eleven and back to their own lab.


	3. Weird Science

"I am perfectly aware of what kind of research Dr. Jericho is conducting," Marshal Hansen said, patiently, but just barely. He did not like people under his command barging into his office unannounced and questioning his decisions, especially if it made him late for dinner in the mess hall.

"So it's okay for him to let a giant gorilla run loose around the base, or worse, the whole island?" Dr. Newton Geiszler demanded.

Dr. Hermann Gottlieb stood next to his collegue, nodding his head in agreement.

Hansen sighed heavily. "There will be nothing running around anywhere," he said with confidence. "Dr. Jericho has assured me that re-animation will only occur during the final stage of his research if it becomes necessary. And even then, the creature will be kept in a comatose state."

Gottlieb and Geiszler looked at each other.

"Okay," said Geiszler, gesturing emphatically with his hands. "But this whole plan of experimenting with kaiju to use them as weapons reeks of a bad idea to begin with. Remember what happened at Jurassic Park and then later Jurassic World?"

"It worked for the precursors," said Hansen. "Where do you think we got the idea from? And, doctor, let me advise you, before you question me any further, that this was all approved by the heads of the Pan Pacific Defense Corps, so if you have any other concerns about Dr. Jericho or his work, I suggest you take it to them. My hands are tied."

"I just-" began Geiszler.

"That will be all, gentlemen," the marshal said, looking down at some paperwork on his desk.

"But-" Gottlieb tried.

Hansen just continued looking at his paperwork, so the two scientists took the hint, turned, and left the marshal's office.

"This is not going to end well," Geiszler said to Gottlieb once they were in the hall. "It's a perversion of... of science!" he shouted.

"Some might say the same thing about drifting with a kaiju brain," Gottlieb said, fairly.

"That was different, dude, you know that," Geiszler shot back.

"Are you sure a lot of this doesn't have to do with the fact that he's using your favorite giant gorilla in his experiments?" asked Gottlieb.

"Maybe a little," Geiszler admitted with no prodding.

"Of course he did mention other kaiju too," said Gottlieb, rubbing his chin.

"Yeah, what others do you think he meant?" asked Geiszler.

"I haven't the fogggiest," said Gottlieb.

"What I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall of sector eleven right now," said Geiszler.

Meanwhile, in sector eleven, there was in fact a fly on one of the walls, but not for long. It quickly flew away to buzz around in a corner as some technicians in head to toe hazmat suits scurried around the huge lab.

Dr. Jericho was just wearing a yellow lab coat and some black rubber gloves, though, as he directed his staff where to go and what to do.

"Yes, the sedatives go in the back," he said, pointing to a person who was pushing a small forklift carrying a pallet of huge oil drums marked TOXIC.

A female technician came up beside him with a clipboard, which he looked at and nodded.

"We will begin the extraction process now, if you would, please," Jericho said, loudly.

Two other technicians came over and followed the doctor to where Kong was cryogenically frozen. Next to the giant glass tube was a control station with several buttons and joysticks on it. Jericho pressed one of the buttons, which caused the whole panel to light up. He took one of the joysticks in his gloved hand and began to move it slightly. Inside Kong's tube, a long robotic arm uncurled from the wall at the back. At the end of it was a hypodermic needle the size of a Volkswagen.

On the other side of the tube, one of the technicians loaded a large metal collection cylinder into a slot in the wall, while the other technician stood by holding some strange looking instrument.

Dr. Jericho concentrated intensely on the task at hand. He maneuvered the needle arm down towards Kong's thigh and ever so gently moved the needle over until it made contact with the gorilla's fur. Then it stopped.

"Blast it!" Jericho cursed under his breath. He pulled the needle back and then jabbed at Kong again with it, quickly this time. It was like the needle was hitting a brick wall. "I was afraid of this," Jericho said to a nearby member of his staff. "The hide is too thick while in this frozen state. We will need to thaw him out slightly to get a sample."

"We can decrease the suspended animation by only ten percent without causing brain damage," the technician said.

"Yes, yes, I'm aware of that. Then that is what needs to be done," Jericho said, impatiently.

The technician quickly hurried into one of the offices nearby.

Jericho released the joystick and looked up at his specimen. "A mere set back, my friend, but you have not beat me, yet," he said with a smile.

One hour later and everything was reset to try again. Jericho and his staff took their places once more, but the results were the same. The giant needle would not puncture Kong.

"Confound it!" Jericho yelled.

"What do we do now, sir?" asked one of the technicians.

Jericho's eyes shifted from side to side quickly in thought. "We can't thaw him anymore, that we know. But we must get a blood sample in order to move forward with our research. The only solution is to unfreeze him entirely and perform the procedure then while he's under sedation."

"But, sir, I thought that was only to be done as a last resort?" said a technician.

"What do you call this?" Jericho said, angrily. "We have much to do now. Don't just stand around questioning me. Initiate protocol for procedure X!"

His staff all began to jump to it, while Jericho himself stormed off with his hands behind his back. He walked through a doorway near his office and down a long corridor lined with large glass windows that looked into holding cells the size of most people's houses.

Inside were various creatures of different sizes and shapes. Jericho looked into each one approvingly as he passed until he got to the end of the line to the largest cell of all which had a plaque on the glass that read, Code Name: Kumonga.

The doctor looked through the glass and down at his other specimen like he was its proud papa.

"If only my other subject was being as easy as you were," said Jericho, lovingly.

Below him, in the cell, which was filled with tons of thick webbing, the creature known as Kumonga looked up with it's many glinting purple eyes. It was a giant spider with black and yellow stripes on its body. In response to Dr. Jericho's words, or maybe just his presence, Kumonga hissed and spit and rubbed it's hairy mandables together, menacingly.

Dr. Jericho just laughed a mirthless laugh.

Meanwhile, back in the lab proper, the fly had buzzed it's way into a high corner near the ceiling and gotten itself tangled in a spider's web. As the spider made it's way closer and closer to the helpless fly. The fly could do nothing but struggle and wait for death.


	4. Escape!

Later that night everything was in place for the procedure once again. Kong had been successfully unfrozen and put under heavy sedation via morphine gas. He was still in his enclosure, kept upright by the narrowness of the tube and the strength of the unbreakable glass. His head had fallen forward and was resting against the front of the tube in a sad and defeated kind of way.

Looking up at him from below, it was almost as if he was looking back down at the tiny scientists at his feet. His eyes were closed, but it seemed like at any minute they could fly open.

"Now, finally, at long last, let's get this blood," said Dr. Jericho, rubbing his gloved hands together and manning the robotic arm's controls. He pressed the button to start the machine and then maneuvered the joystick just as he had before. The arm inside the tube followed his movement and the large needle, which had had to be replaced due to the other one becoming bent, finally pierced Kong's skin and slid into him like a knife into butter.

Kong had only the slightest reaction. Just a small flinch upon being pricked. Otherwise he was sleeping as soundly as a large kitten. Next to the tube, the collection cylinder in the wall began to fill with blood.

"Yes, just a bit more," said Dr. Jericho, quietly. "You're doing fine, my darling."

The cylinder was halfway full.

Suddenly an alarm went off nearby and two technicians ran to a panel to see what was wrong.

"Doctor, there's something wrong with the pipe that's pumping in the sedative," one of the technicians called to Jericho. "Something's blocking it."

Jericho only glanced over at Kong momentarily. The great ape stirred slightly. The cylinder was three quarters full.

"Sir, there's no gas entering the tube anymore, what should we do?" asked the technician.

"Almost finished," Jericho hissed at him in annoyance.

High above, Kong's face began to twitch and his slow breathing became more heavy and agitated.

"Sir, he's waking up," cried another technician nearby. She was looking up at Kong with panic on her face.

"We need to reengage the cryo-system, sir," said one of the technicians at the panel.

"Almost," said Jericho, concentrating only on the cylinder and nothing else. It was about to be full.

The female technician screamed. Everyone, including Jericho looked in the direction she was looking; up at Kong, who's eyes were wide open and angry. He looked right down at Jericho and bared his sharp teeth.

"Reengage the cryo-system now!" Jericho yelled.

Kong awkwardly reached over in the confining space of the tube and grabbed at the needle in his leg. He pulled it out and then yanked the whole robotic arm out of the wall. The technicians frantically ran to the machinery that would refreeze Kong. As they did, Kong was able to maneuver his arms above his head and began pounding on the glass like mad.

"Have no fear," Jericho called to his panicked staff, "That glass is made of transparent chrome alloy. He's not going anywhere."

The doctor was wrong.

Kong's strength surpassed that of any mere gorilla, even a giant one, and very quickly the unbreakable glass tube began to show cracks where his mighty fists pounded it. By the time the technicians got the nitro gas flowing into the tube again it was too late. The glass shattered and Kong smashed his way out allowing the gas to spill out as well. A couple people close to the tube were hit with it and immediately were frozen solid like the T-1000. Kong nonchalantly stepped on one such person, smashing them to pieces like a porcelain doll.

Dr. Jericho watched in horror, not at the loss of human life, but at the fact that his greatest fear had come true; he had lost control.

Kong stomped into the middle of the giant room and beat his chest with both fists. He looked down at Dr. Jericho, cowering behind a large piece of scientific equipment and roared a roar so loud it pushed the equipment over on the doctor. He let out a yelp of pain.

Kong then turned to the far wall of the lab, which was made up of two enormous metal doors like the ones that allow jaegers to exit the Shatterdome, sensing with his animal instinct that it was all that stood between him and the outside world. He charged at the doors and easily smashed through the metal until he was outside.

The racket could easily be heard next door in the labs of sector ten. Dr. Gottlieb and Dr. Geiszler both looked up from what they were doing as the entire building rumbled and the lights flickered. They gave each other knowing, worried looks.

On the other side of the Shatterdome, Mako Mori and Raleigh Becket were sparring in a training room when they also heard the noise and saw the lights flicker. They were both well acquainted with the sounds a giant monster makes, especially Mako, who had first heard such sounds when she was only a small child. She and Raleigh both gave each other similar looks as the scientists had and then they immediately went into action and ran to go change clothes.

Meanwhile, in sector eleven, Kong had made his way outside and far from the building and was now loose on the island. A technician ran over to where Dr. Jericho was pinned and, with the help of an assistant, lifted the machinery off of him. He wasn't severely injured, but he was scared and extremely pissed off. He slapped his rescuers away and demanded to know what had happened to cause this.

"Fools! I'm surrounded by nothing but fools!" he shouted. "How could the pipe for the sedative become blocked?"

Right at that moment the main doors to the lab opened and in marched Hercules Hansen and several PPDC personnel as well as Dr. Geiszler and Dr. Gottlieb.

"What the hell is going on here?" demanded Hansen.

"King Kong escaped!" shouted a female technician.

Jericho gave her a dark look.

"I told you!" shouted Geiszler, happily.

Gottlieb gave him a dark look.

Marshal Hansen ignored him.

"Start talking, Jericho," demanded Hansen. He stepped up close to the doctor and grabbed him by the lapel of his lab coat.

Clifford Jericho wasn't intimidated by many people, but Hercules Hansen was someone that he most certainly was intimidated by.

"I...don't know what happened. One minute we were taking a simple blood sample and the next-" Jericho said, nervously.

Marshal Hansen released him.

"Get in my office, Doctor, I've got more to say to you."

One of Hansen's men took the doctor roughly by his arm and lead him away. The other's stood at attention waiting for their orders.

"Clear these technicians out of here and do something about that hole," Hansen said to them, then to Gottlieb and Geiszler he said, "You two come with me."

The scientists said nothing, just nodded and followed their commander as he marched out of sector eleven.

Meanwhile, in sector five, Mako and Raleigh had arrived in full ranger gear to the command center overlooking their jaeger. Tendo Choi, another Hong Kong Shatterdome alumnus, sat at some controls. He was a youngish man of Chinese-Peruvian decent who dressed like someone's grandpa, but with an Elvis Presley haircut.

"Hey, there's my favorite pair of heroes," he said upon seeing Mako and Raleigh. "How did ya'll know you were needed already?"

"Just a hunch," said Raleigh. "What the hell was that sound? Is the Shatterdome under attack?"

Choi shrugged.

"No clue, all I know is that the kaiju known as Kong is on the loose about five miles from here and according to our radars he's rapidly moving north towards a populated area, Pearl City."

"Where is Marshal Hensen?" asked Mako.

"He's attending to other matters," said Choi. "But he radioed to say that he wants you two in Gipsy Danger immediately. You're to take down Kong by any means necessary."

"Got it," Mako and Raleigh both said in unison.

Mako looked at Raleigh and gave him a pensive look.

"I guess you got your wish after all," she said.

Marshal Hansen charged down the hallway towards his office with Gottlieb and Geiszler in tow.

"How can we be of any assistance?" Dr. Gottlieb inquired as he struggled to keep up with his fast moving superior.

Hansen suddenly stopped and faced the two scientists.

"From you I need numbers," he said to Dr. Gottlieb. "That monster is heading towards Pearl City. Which has a population of roughly forty-seven thousand people. I need to know precisely how much damage a kaiju like Kong could cause and how much time we have to stop him. Luckily the alarms have already gone off there and evacuation has begun."

"Right-o," said Gottlieb, giving a salute.

Geiszler snorted.

Hansen turned his attention to him.

"From you I need information," he said, pointing his finger in Geiszler's face. "You're a Kong groupie."

"Goddamn it," Geiszler said under his breath.

"I need to know everything you know about this creature. His habits, his fighting style, what drives him. Any info I can give my rangers to help them take him down," Hansen continued.

"I'll help however I can," Geiszler said quickly. "But when you say 'take him down'..."

"Both of you head to sector five," Hansen said, ignoring Geiszler. "I'll rendezvous with you both once I've dealt with Jericho."

Geiszler made to say something, but Gottlieb cut him off.

"Yes, sir, right away," he said, grabbing his colleague by the arm and leading him away as Marshal Hansen turned and entered the large door leading to his office.

Inside, Dr. Jericho sat in a comfortable chair in front of the marshal's desk. His usual smug confidence had returned, but slipped a bit once Hansen entered.

"I've got my two best rangers set to chase after a kaiju that was under your supervision," Hansen shouted, getting right to it. "A kaiju that, it was my understanding, would not be able to do anything until it was safely under your control, Doctor. What in god's name happened?"

Dr. Jericho stared at the marshal for a moment, choosing his words very carefully.

"There is no god, Marshal, only man and monster," he finally said. "And man must have dominion over the monsters or else he will perish. I will admit to a small amount of negligence on my part here today, but with science comes experimentation and with experimentation comes mistakes, failure. There are always costs, accidents, delays. Look at the A-bomb."

Hansen's face fell as a wave of realization washed over him that the man sitting in front of him was, in fact, a total fruitcake. Gottlieb and Geiszler had been right and had, just earlier that same day, tried to warn him of this fact. He should have listened. He knew that now.

"This is going to cost you more than a delay," Hansen said through gritted teeth. "I'm going to see to it that you are put on immediate suspension pending an investigation into this incident. 'Til then you will be held in the brig until the proper authorities can come for you, meanwhile I'm needed in sector five. I have to oversee the destruction of this horror you've unleashed."

Dr. Jericho glared into Hansen's angry eyes. Then he smiled slightly.

"Whatever you say, Marshal, I will cooperate however I can," he said, slyly.

Hansen pressed a button on his desk and two PPDC personnel entered the office and took charge of Dr. Jericho. He went peacefully, but gave Hansen a sinister and meaningful look.

Hansen looked back with stone cold eyes that showed no fear whatsoever.

Once the doctor was gone, Hansen left the office himself and headed straight to sector five. Gipsy Danger was about to launch and he wanted to be there when it did.

"Time to save the world again," said Tendo Choi once Raleigh and Mako were securely in the steering apparatus inside their jaeger.

Marshal Hansen entered the bridge where Choi and the rest of the launch crew plus Dr. Gottlieb and Dr. Geiszler were and grabbed a microphone.

"Okay, Gipsy, this should be pretty routine. One kaiju, category three, known as Kong, just arrived in downtown Pearl City. Most of the population is evacuated or in shelters, but all the same, try to reduce the amount of property damage and human casualties as much as possible," Hansen said in a voice that sounded like it had said all this many times before.

"Got it," answered Raleigh via the comm link in his white helmet. He and Mako had switched from their former black drivesuits to white in memory of Raleigh's fallen brother and former jaeger co-pilot, Yancy Becket. The brothers had always worn white up until Yancy's death at the hands of the kaiju, Knifehead.

The technicians who had helped Mako and Raleigh into the steering apparatus left and the two pilots prepared for the neural drift.

After so long together, the drift was like stepping into a warm bath for both of them and in no time at all they were linked. Gipsy was clear for take off. Two giant metal doors opened in front of it and the jaeger was free to walk towards the sunlight and out onto the island.

"We'll be right back," Raleigh reported over the comm with cocksure bravado.

Mako stayed silent and focused.

Like two sides of one brain; the wild, impetuous side, and the controlled, methodical side, they piloted their jaeger as one.

With the walk of a confident gunslinger, Gipsy made its way towards where the danger was. The center of the hurricane.

Meanwhile... in Pearl City...


	5. Rampage!

Kong entered Pearl City with slow and curious trepidation. It had been a long time since he'd been in a city, and in his past experience they were usually scary, dangerous places. Pearl City was a lot smaller than, say, New York or Tokyo, but it was still full of buildings, cars, and other small uncomfortable things to step on with bare feet.

Kong shuffled onto a major street, kicking up parked cars and trucks like a human might kick up sand as they strolled along the beach.

There was no army waiting for him, which was new. Usually there were tiny tanks and army men below to pelt him with harmless missiles and mortar bombs. But to Kong's surprise there was very few humans on the streets at all, so he just kind of lazily walked around kicking at vehicles and some of the smaller buildings, which crumbled.

This was now his city, he figured, no one was challenging him for it. He began to look around at all he surveyed and then he beat his mighty chest with his fists and roared. Many of the nearby buildings shook and the ones that were mostly made of glass started to crack and shatter.

He could be king of this place.

But then, on the horizon, appeared Gipsy Danger, like a giant, blue, metal policeman coming to take care of a rowdy drunk.

Kong spotted the jaeger immediately and narrowed his eyes in anger. Then as it got closer he bared his sharp teeth, daring the thing to come at him. Huge globs of drool fell from his mouth and hit the streets of the city below, creating swimming pool sized puddles of slime. One hapless citizen who had chosen not to flee got hit with some of it and it was a pretty nasty experience to say the least.

Back at the Shatterdome, Tendo Choi turned in his chair to face his superior officer, Marshal Hansen.

"We just got word from the American Navy," he said, as he held onto the earpiece part of the headset he was wearing. "They say they are ready and standing by over at Pearl Harbor. They've got a lock on Kong now and can rain down a whole buttload of missiles when ready, sir."

"A buttload?" asked Hansen, cocking an eyebrow.

"My words, not theirs," Choi admitted.

"Tell them to hold tight. Gipsy Danger is there now. They'll take care of this situation quick enough," Hansen said with certainty.

And quickly is how Gipsy moved as it ran towards Kong with its right fist pulled back ready to strike.

Kong roared and ran forward to meet the jaeger. Gipsy landed its punch right on Kong's flat nose, which disoriented the great beast and made him recoil. He shook the pain off, though, and roared again, then charged forward shoving Gipsy Danger hard with both hands. The jaeger stumbled backwards, awkwardly, and then tripped over a hospital, but caught its balance with its left hand.

Kong had only fought a machine once before. A mechanical version of himself dubbed Mechani-Kong and that had been an easy enough battle ending with the metal monkey being blown to pieces, so the king was confident as he slowly sauntered over to the jaeger as it stood back up. Suddenly its right hand opened and smoothly transformed into a plasma cannon. That was new to Kong and he didn't expect it when he got hit in the chest by a full blast. He stumbled and Gipsy moved in, ready to fire again, but Kong quickly reached down and pulled the upper level off of a parking garage to use as a shield.

"This thing is smarter than the kaiju from the breach," Raleigh said.

"He's got a simian brain," Marshal Hansen said over the comm. "Basic problem solving skills, no more."

Gipsy fired its cannon again at Kong multiple times in quick succession.

Kong blocked each shot with his concrete shield, but the structural integrity of it began to give way, so once Gipsy stopped firing in order for the cannon to cool down, Kong chucked the rubble in his hands at the machine overhanded.

Gipsy put up its left arm to block the assault, and while it was distracted, Kong dodged right and began to run.

"It's moving south," Raleigh reported.

Gipsy gave chase. Both giants crushing cars, trees, and small buildings as they went. The asphalt streets they ran on cracked and smashed to pieces.

"Any advice?" Hansen said to Dr. Geiszler, back at the control room.

"Um, w-w-well, historically, whenever Kong has gotten loose in cities before he's always gone for the tallest building there and climbed it," said Geiszler, quickly.

"That would be the Century Park Plaza Towers," said Choi. "But they're less than 600 feet."

"He would crush them if he tried to climb them," scoffed Dr. Gottlieb.

"Well, what do you want?" yelled Geiszler.

"It's a shot," said Hansen, then into a mic he said, "Try to steer the kaiju towards the Century Park Plaza Towers."

"He's heading in that direction now," Raleigh answered, back in Gipsy Danger.

Kong continued to run, and Gipsy continued to chase him.

Finally, Gipsy caught up to Kong and stuck out it's right arm ready to fire the fully recharged plasma cannon again, but the great ape stopped, turned suddenly, and grabbed the cannon arm tightly with both hands. He then jumped up and put his two huge feet on Gipsy's torso and jerked the entire arm off with one tug.

Everyone back in the control room was speechless.

Choi put his hands on his head in surprise. Hansen covered his moth with his hand and whispered, "God damn it." Geiszler yelled out, "Whoa!"

Kong threw the arm to the side of him where it crashed into a glass building that said Pacific Pharmaceuticals on it. Kong himself fell to the ground on his back and landed right next to an art house movie theater showing a marathon of old black and white movies starring the actress, Ann Darrow. Kong stared at one of the posters for a second with one of his enormous brownish-red eyes and then shook his head clear and stood back up to finish the fight.

Gipsy had recovered quickly from its loss of limb and was waiting for Kong. It lunged forward and grabbed him by his own arm and tried to force it behind his back like it was apprehending a criminal. But due to only having one arm itself, this was tricky.

Kong slipped out of the hold and began to swing a punch.

"We may have lost an arm, but we still have both legs," Mako shouted to Raleigh. He nodded.

Before Kong could land his punch, Gipsy turned sideways and delivered a karate kick to Kong's ribs. He roared in pain and fell down again.

"Time to end this," said Mako.

Back at the Shatterdome everyone was sitting around a monitor intensely watching the battle. Some were placing bets on what would come next.

Mako pressed some buttons on the controls inside Gipsy Danger and suddenly a retractable sword came out of the left arm and quickly straightened into a long, sharp instrument of death.

"Pay up," Gottlieb said to Geiszler, who frowned.

Gipsy stepped towards Kong ready to finish off its fallen opponent, but Kong was just playing possum.

He sprang from a crouched position like a spider monkey and wrapped his arms and legs around Gipsy's middle like a giant baby clinging to its mother. Gipsy staggered under Kong's weight, but caught its balance. Kong quickly swung himself around so that he was still hanging onto Gipsy, but now on its back like a huge gorilla backpack.

"Stupid monkey!" Mako screamed in Japanese and swung the sword backwards over Gipsy's head. Kong ducked it, but caught the left arm and with one forceful motion, used the arm to make the sword go forward and cut off Gipsy's own head.

Everyone at the Shatterdome looked on in shock.

From inside Gipsy's head, Mako and Raleigh felt like the world was moving in slow motion as they soon found themselves plunging towards the earth in a ten ton metal hamster ball. They were both trained professionals, though, and had been in this kind of fix before. They both reached out and pressed the emergency ejector button, which launched them both separately out of the head right before it hit the ground and took out an elementary school.

Kong leaped clear of the body, which stood for a moment, but then the knees buckled and it collapsed to the ground too, causing a concussive quack that leveled everything in the area.

Mako and Raleigh watched through the small windows in their respective escape pods as they parachuted downward. Their beautiful jaeger lay below them in pieces and a giant gorilla was still loose in a populated area. They had lost the fight and they had failed their mission.

They both hit the ground, hard, miles apart from each other and the doors of their pods swooshed open allowing them to stagger out. Raleigh immediately removed his helmet and shook the sweat from his blonde hair. "Mako, are you alright?" he said into his comm link.

"I am shaken, but fine," was the response he got. He smiled. Then he looked up and stopped smiling. King Kong stood only a couple yards away from him over the fallen body of Gipsy Danger.

The gorilla looked at the jaeger with curiosity and then reached down and picked up one of its legs which dangled like that of a doll in his hands. Then he dropped it. Then he picked it up again and dropped it a second time like he was playing a game.

Raleigh looked on with a mix of anger and horror.

Then something suddenly caught Kong's attention and he left the leg alone and looked directly at Raleigh.

Now Raleigh only felt horror.

"Are you okay?" Mako's voice asked over the comm.

Raleigh didn't answer, he was too busy running for his life. Kong watched the small blonde dressed all in white try to run and something instinctively made him reach out and effortlessly snatch up the small creature before he could go even a few feet.

Kong brought Raleigh up close to his face so that he could examine him better.

Raleigh shielded himself with his hands as if it would do anything to stop the kaiju from eating him in one bite, but Kong did not eat him, instead he just studied him for a few minutes as he stood in his open palm, like a kid might study a lady bug.

Raleigh eventually put his hands down when he realized he was not being eaten.

"Put me down," he screamed angrily into the ape's face.

Kong snorted and the air from his nostrils knocked Raleigh down on his butt. He sat there in Kong's palm for a second trying to figure out what was going on and what his next move would or could be. Before he figured anything out, though, Kong closed his mighty hand. Raleigh screamed, but the scream was muffled once the hand was closed tight enough so that Raleigh was not crushed, but would also not fall out. Then Kong looked around himself as if to see if any other enemies were going to attack. When none came, he looked towards the mountains in the distance beyond the city all covered in lush, green, jungle foliage.

He immediately made a beeline for them and disappeared.

"How do you lose a giant gorilla!" demanded Hansen, back at the Shatterdome.

Choi frantically pressed buttons and looked at his radars and screens. "I...I...I don't know. I think the jungle growth is interfering with our signals maybe," he answered.

"Why didn't you just have the Navy launch their missiles at the creature?" asked Gottlieb.

"While he was holding one of my rangers?" asked Hansen, angrily.

"Right-o," said Gottlieb, shutting up.

"Well, the important thing is, no one got hurt," said Geiszler, giving Gottlieb a dirty look. "I mean, maybe a few civilians did. We don't know that, but Mako and Raleigh and Kong are okay, so..."

"Get out of my sight, the both of you," Hansen said calmly, but sternly.

The two scientists both nodded and ducked out of the room together as fast as possible.

Hansen then turned his attention to Choi. "Find me that gorilla. This isn't over yet. Not by a long shot. Also, recover Ms. Mori and the pieces of her jaeger and find out all you can about Dr. Clifford Jericho. Not just what we have on him in his file. I mean dig deep.

"Got it," said Choi.

"Meanwhile, I'm going down to the brig to talk to that little cockroach right now," said Hansen, and then he also left the room.


	6. Recovery

The majority of Gipsy Danger had to be air lifted by several choppers back to the Shatterdome. The head and right arm were brought in separately by huge flatbed truck-like vehicles.

"What a mess," said Tendo Choi as he watched from high above as the pieces entered the building. He made some notes on the clipboard he was holding and shook his head in dismay.

In her quarters, Mako Mori had just gotten out of the shower and put on some navy blue jogging pants and a black tank top. Her hair was still wet and the massive bruise on her left bicep was beginning to turn a blackish grey. She looked at herself in the mirror and frowned. There was a few small cuts on her face that would leave scars.

Just then, there was a knock on her door. She went over and answered it. It was Marshal Hansen.

"Please, come in," she said.

The marshal did so.

"How bad is the damage?" asked Mako.

"We should be able to have her up and operational in about twenty-four hours if we work around the clock," said Hansen.

"Then that is what we must do," said Mako. "I'll help."

She made to go for the door, but Hansen caught her.

"No, you'll rest," he said, gently, but it was also an order.

"Now, tell me, what happened out there?" he asked.

"He was too fast, too smart. Not like the other kaiju we've faced at all," said Mako, turning away. "How did this happen, Marshal? Where did this monster come from?"

Hansen sighed heavily. "From right here. From the Shatterdome," he said.

Mako's eyes widened.

"It's all my fault," said Hansen as he began to pace. "I should have seen this coming. Letting that man bring living kaiju in here and do God knows what with them."

"Dr. Jericho," Mako said, knowingly.

"The man is a maniac," said Hansen. "I just got done talking to him in the brig. He's a fanatic that is convinced that our best line of defense against future kaiju attacks is to use kaiju of our own. He thinks he can control them."

"But they cannot be controlled," said Mako, softly. "Demons cannot be controlled."

"The higher ups at the PPDC approved the plan, but I could have protested. I could have stopped them somehow if I'd tried," said Hansen. "Gottlieb and Geiszler tried to warn me just this morning in fact."

"Do not blame yourself, Marshal. We will fix this," said Mako with certainty. "Our first priority is getting my partner back safely and getting Gipsy repaired."

"Right," said Hansen. Her confidence fueled his own and he began to feel less sorry for himself and more hopeful for the future.

"We won't lose anyone else," she said walking over to him and putting her hand on his shoulder in a warm and friendly gesture. For a moment the marshal's eyes started to become misty as he thought of what he and this woman had lost in the recent past, but just then, Tendo Choi appeared in the room's open doorway.

"I figured you'd be here, Marshal," he said.

"Yes?" said Hansen, regaining his air of military authority.

"Apparently all the information we had on Dr. Jericho in his file was falsified," said Choi, handing the marshal a thick file folder he was holding. "Me and my team have talked to both the FBI and the CIA and after some digging here's what we now know: his real name is Dr. Crawford Jelesko and he used to work for the secret government organization known as Monarch, but he was dismissed due to 'unscrupulous experiments and unethical scientific practices'."

Hansen looked at the paperwork in the file and frowned.

"Disgraced, he joined the terrorist group known as The Red Bamboo," continued Choi. "Not much is known about what he did with them, but eventually he left to pursue his own research on Devil's Island. Next thing you know he's applying to be head of kaiju research for the PPDC under the name Clifford Jericho."

"How the hell could this have happened?" Hansen said, angrily.

"With all that's gone down in the last decade, a lot of stuff just slips through the cracks, I guess," said Choi.

"Slips through the red tape and people's pockets, you mean," growled Hansen.

Mako looked at her commanding officer with concern and anger.

"I want to talk to this man," she said.

"Be my guest," said Hansen.

"Well, can that wait?" said Choi. "There's something else. The navy sent over one of their officers who they say has past experience with Kong. She's waiting in sector five and I think you both should meet her."

Mako and Hansen both looked at Choi with curiosity.

"Fine, but let's make it quick," said Mako. "Wherever Raleigh is, he could be in terrible danger, and we need to start sending out rescue parties immediately."

Where Raleigh was was deep in the mountains of Honolulu, riding in the closed fist of King Kong as the great beast made his way through the thick jungle growth. All that could be heard was the loud grunting of Kong as he lumbered along and the snapping of trees and vines as he walked through them like they were nothing at all. Raleigh had long ago stopped trying to yell in protest and was now just sitting inside the kaiju's hand, fuming.

Finally, Kong stopped in a clearing surrounded by trees that just barely concealed him from the view of the island down below. He raised his hand and deposited Raleigh among the top branches of one such tree. Raleigh slipped at first, but caught himself and pulled himself up to sit on the branch.

Kong looked at him face to face, or face to whole body, as it were.

"You've made a big mistake, buddy," said Raleigh, pointing his finger at the gorilla. He lost his balance for a minute, but then caught it and regained his serious, unamused face.

Kong snorted and then turned his back on Raleigh.

Raleigh took that as an opportunity to start descending the tree. He hadn't gotten far, though, when Kong looked back at him. He plucked him up and put him back towards the top of the tree.

"Stop it!" shouted Raleigh.

Kong growled.

The vibrations made Raleigh and the branches he clung to shake.

Kong turned his back again and began picking huge handfuls of foliage off a nearby tree and eating them.

Raleigh started to climb down again, slowly, and made it a good ways down the tree before Kong looked back. He didn't see Raleigh at first and started to panic, making upset hooting noises as he scanned the branches. Finally he saw his prize towards the middle and snatched him up.

"Put me down!" Raleigh screamed, and to his surprise, Kong listened, because he immediately placed him down on the jungle floor in a big puddle of mud.

"Thanks," Raleigh said, sarcastically. He stood up and started trying to wipe the mud off of his backside with his gloved hand, but all he did was smear it on his, now, off-white armor.

"Ugh," he groaned and started taking the armor off.

Kong watched for a moment and then reached down to try and pull a piece of armor off himself. Raleigh smacked his fingers away in annoyance. He showed no fear of the enormous kaiju.

"I can do it myself," he said, angrily.

Kong pulled back his hand, offended, and then growled loudly.

"Pervert," Raleigh said, mostly to himself. He continued stripping off the drivesuit. Underneath, he wore a sweat stained white tank top and tan cargo pants. Around his neck, as always, was his dog tags. His boots were full of mud too, so he took them and his socks off as well.

Kong watched, fascinated, and looked at his own giant feet as if he was wondering if he could take them off too.

"So what do you want?" Raleigh asked, once he was done. He looked up at Kong defiantly. "Are you gonna eat me or kill me or something?"

Kong furrowed his brow and looked down at Raleigh for several minutes. To the point where Raleigh actually did begin to become afraid.

Finally, Kong let himself fall backwards into a sitting position. It seemed like the entire jungle shook. He cocked his head and continued to watch Raleigh as he backed away from the gorilla.

"So what did you take me for?" he asked. He couldn't tell if this thing understood him, but it was easy enough to talk to since it looked somewhat human.

Kong sighed and looked down, almost in shame.

"Well, it's been swell," said Raleigh, backing away still. "But I gotta go. Gotta let my friends know I'm alive and all that." He turned and started to walk very fast. "Gotta deal with you too, somehow," he said to himself.

Suddenly he found himself being picked up again as Kong lunged forward and snatched him.

"Put me down!" Raleigh screamed. "You destroy my city, you destroy my jaeger, what the hell is your problem?"

Kong held Raleigh up, right to his humongous face.

"If you think you're gonna keep me as a pet you've got another thing coming," Raleigh said, looking Kong square in the eye. "You're just lucky my partner is okay. I don't know how I know she is, but I do."

"I don't know how I know he's alright, but I do, Marshal," Mako said as she, Hansen, and Choi entered sector five. She stopped talking when she saw Gipsy Danger in the distance being repaired. It almost broke her heart.

"This is Lieutenant Susan Watson," Choi said, walking up to someone who was also starring up at Gipsy. She turned around at the sound of her name to reveal a woman approximately the same height and age as Mako, with a short bob haircut also like hers. The only difference between them, really, was that this woman was blonde and white. She was also wearing a beige military uniform that was cut like a mini-dress. Four brown bars across her chest apparently showed her rank.

"Hi," she said, pleasantly, giving everyone a big smile and holding out her hand.

Marshal Hansen took it first, giving it a gentlemanly kiss. "How do you do?" he said "I'm Marshal Herc Hansen, I run this facility."

"Marshal," said Susan, in acknowledgment.

Mako shook her hand next. "Mako Mori," she said, curtly.

"You are!" said Susan, her eyes going wide. "The famous Mako Mori, The Survivor of Tokyo. The pilot of Gipsy Danger, the jaeger that saved the world."

Mako nodded, respectfully. She was slightly flattered.

Susan turned and faced the enormous mech again. "And this is it," she said with awe. "The famous Gipsy Danger. It looks smaller than I remember it looking on the news."

"This isn't the original," said Mako. "That was lost in the breach. This is Gipsy two-point-oh, if you will. It's slightly smaller for stealth purposes."

"I see," said Susan.

"So, Ms. Watson, Tendo tells us you have prior knowledge of this kaiju we're dealing with, this Kong," said Marshal Hansen, bringing things back to business.

"Yes," said Susan, facing everyone again. "Years ago I... made contact with him during a survey of Mondo Island."

"Where?" asked Choi.

"Mondo Island," repeated Susan. "That's where Kong is from. You might know it as Faro Island or maybe Skull Island. It has many names."

"Yes, of course," said Marshal Hansen.

"Anyway, I was also with Kong during Mechani-Kong's attack on Tokyo," contuinued Susan.

"We had just rebuilt after the Onibaba attack when that happened," said Mako, referring to the kaiju that killed her parents when she was young.

"Kong stopped Mechani-Kong and saved Tokyo," said Susan.

"You talk about this thing like it's a hero," said Choi, slightly annoyed. He, like Mako and the marshal, had lost family in the early days of the breach opening.

"He is," Susan said simply.

Mako starred at this strange woman. Hansen looked down and sighed.

"Thank you!" yelled a high-pitched voice from nearby and Dr. Geiszler came flailing over.

"Oh no," said Hansen, loudly.

"Oh yes," said Geiszler, just as loudly. Dr. Gottlieb came hobbling up to the rest of them too, never far from Dr. Geiszler.

"Gentlemen, this does not concern either one of you," said Hansen, trying to keep his temper in check.

"Oh, that's funny, a few hours ago you wanted to hear my take on Kong. But you didn't like what I had to say. Now this incredibly smart woman is saying the exact same things as me and I can't join the conversation?" said Geiszler.

Hansen grabbed the bridge of his noise as if he was getting a headache.

"I want Ms. Mori, Ms. Watson, and you two," said Hansen, pointing to Gottlieb and Geiszler, "In my office now. That's where we will be strategizing and everyone will get a chance to contribute their input."

Mako looked like she wanted to argue, but she didn't, her adoptive father, the former marshal of the Hong Kong Shatterdome had taught her better than that. She just nodded and walked away followed silently by Dr. Gottlieb. Dr. Geiszler quickly put his arm around Susan, introduced himself, and began to lead her away after the others, starting up a conversation about kaiju lice or something as they walked. Susan smiled, but looked uncomfortable.

"What should I do?" Choi asked Hansen once they were alone.

"Search parties have been deployed, yes?" said Hansen.

"Yeah, three squads in jeeps just left to comb the mountains," said Choi.

"Stay at your monitor and let me know of any promising developments," said Hansen.

"Gotcha, sir," said Choi. He saluted and then headed towards the elevator that would take him up to his command center within sector five.

Hansen stood for a moment thinking over the whole situation. He knew Mako was certain that Raleigh was alive, but he himself was more skeptical.

Meanwhile, back in the jungle, Raleigh was very much alive, just not in a very good mood. While Kong sat by eating huge clumps of leaves and branches from nearby trees, all he could do was sit on a log and watch. Kong refused to let him go more than ten feet from his side.

Finally Raleigh had had enough.

"What do you want from me?" he shouted up at Kong.

Kong glanced down, but then turned his attention back to eating.

"Well, enjoy your salad, pal, cause pretty soon there's gonna be choppers and ground troops out looking for me and when they find you, which they will, you're gonna be real sorry," said Raleigh. "You big monsters think you can just snatch up whoever and whatever you want, well guess what? Ya can't. You're in for a world of hurt."

Kong wasn't listening.

Raleigh sighed and put his head in his hands.

Suddenly, Kong's hand appeared right next to him, offering him some of his food.

Raleigh was startled at first. He looked at the handful of plant life and then up at Kong.

"Am I supposed to eat that?" Raleigh asked, angrily.

Kong nodded.

That shook Raleigh for a minute. He didn't think this thing could understand him. He looked again at what was in Kong's hand. Among the leaves and branches there was also a few ripe coconuts, and he was pretty hungry after a long and trying day. Carefully he reached out and took the biggest coconut there was. He knelt down next to a rock and beat the fruit against it until it cracked in half, then he began to eat the insides messily. Kong watched for a minute, and then went back to feeding himself. Raleigh looked up at him again, his face covered in coconut pulp and milk, and it occurred to him all of a sudden that what he was looking at might not be a hundred foot kaiju, but instead just a very large animal that had just escaped captivity and done what it needed to to survive.

For several minutes the two males just sat there under the trees eating together and then finally when Raleigh was done he said, "What were you doing at the Shatterdome anyway?"

Kong clapped his hands together to get rid of any dust and debris that might be left from his meal and then furrowed his brow as if he was thinking about the question.

"You don't belong here," Raleigh said, almost accusingly. "I don't know how you got here, but you definitely don't belong."

Kong looked up at the sky. He had a sad, thoughtful expression on his face. Then, as if to distract himself, he suddenly looked back down at Raleigh with an excited expression. Like a dog that just heard a tennis ball bounce. With his giant hand he reached down and pushed Raleigh off the log he was sitting on with his finger. Raleigh made a yelp sound and hit the ground relatively softly. Kong hooted and hollered.

Raleigh stood up, unamused, and brushed himself off.

"Yeah, laugh it up, fuzzball, make noise. That'll help them find us faster," he said.

Kong reached out and shoved Raleigh again with his finger. Raleigh fell down again.

"Knock it off!" he yelled once he got back up. "People might have died back there in Pearl City, do you understand that?"

Based on Kong's innocent facial expression, he clearly did not.

"I am not going to play with you. I am not," said Raleigh.

Kong knocked him down again, anyway, and hooted some more.

"Okay, ya know what," Raleigh said, once again picking himself back up. He decided to try a new tactic. "Why don't we play a game we can both enjoy."

Kong starred at him as if to say, "I'm listening."

"Let's play hide and seek," said Raleigh. "See, what it is is I hide and then you try to find me. You have to turn around, though." He made a little gesture with his finger to illustrate turning around.

Kong seemed to understand, because he pivoted on his rear and faced the other direction.

"Goood," said Raleigh, as he slowly backed away. "Goood... giant... monkey... thing."

Once he had managed to tip toe out of the clearing, he bolted. He ran faster than he had ever run in his entire life, especially in bare feet, especially in bare feet in a jungle filled with sharp rocks and thorny twigs on the ground. He ran and ran, frantically looking back to see if Kong was coming, but he didn't seem to be. Raleigh was so busy acting on pure animal instinct and watching his back that he didn't realize he was about to run off of a cliff until he had actually done it. The drop was so sudden, he couldn't even scream. But before he could fall more than three feet, though, a giant, furry hand caught him in mid air and pulled him back up. He briefly got a glimpse of the jagged rocks in the water below him that he had almost landed on top of and his eyes bugged out.

"Whoa!" Raleigh exclaimed as Kong swung himself around and headed back to the clearing.

Kong promptly stuck him high up in a tree again.

Raleigh was out of breath and sweating like crazy, but managed to puff out, "Is this my punishment?"

Kong nodded.

Raleigh sighed.

This was turning into a very weird day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *For anyone not familiar with Susan Watson, I highly recommend watching the classic Toho movie, King Kong Escapes.*


	7. Meeting of the Minds

Evening was fast approaching and everyone was getting tired as they sat in Marshal Hansen's office arguing in circles about what to do next. Mako Mori, Susan Watson, Herc Hansen, and doctors Geiszler and Gottlieb were all of differing opinions.

"I think we should wait until the search parties report back before we decide on a plan of attack," said Hansen from behind his desk.

"Kong is not a threat," protested Susan. "He only lashed out because he felt threatened and was in a foreign environment. If we can somehow sedate him we can get him back to his native island."

"With all due respect, Lieutenant," Mako said to Susan, "This is the Pan Pacific Defense Corps, not a taxi service for monsters."

"Kong isn't a monster!" Susan and Dr. Geiszler both said at once. Dr. Gottlieb facepalmed. Geiszler looked at Susan and smiled. She smiled back.

"Kong is a good kaiju," Geiszler then went on.

"There is no such thing," Mako said with certainty. 

"I agree," Hansen added.

"I don't agree," shot back Geiszler.

"Surprise, surprise," Hansen scoffed.

"What is your opinion?" Susan asked, looking at Gottlieb who had remained silent since the five of them had begun this meeting.

"I... well... I..." He looked at Hansen, his commanding officer, and then at Geiszler, his colleague and sort of friend. "I don't like to take sides," he finally said.

"The question is not, 'how do we deal with Kong?'; the question is, how do we defeat it?" said Mako. She went over to Hansen's desk and leaned on it with one arm so that she was face to face with the marshal.

"I still want to interrogate Dr. Jericho," she said.

"In due time," said Hansen.

Mako was not happy.

"Look, I appreciate all the PPDC has done for the world, I really do. I'm a huge fan of it and its jaegers, but killing Kong is not the answer," said Susan, almost pleadingly.

"Besides," interjected Geiszler, "Until we find Raleigh it doesn't matter if Gipsy is fixed or not since you don't have anyone to pilot her with."

Mako looked down.

"He does have a point," said Hansen. "We can't do anything until we get Ranger Becket back. That needs to be our top priority. It's getting dark out and every minute that passes makes it less and less likely we'll find him tonight. We need to double our efforts. Send out some choppers."

"I know he's alive. I saw what happened. That thing scooped him up and took him away like a trophy," said Mako.

"Then let's just hope Becket doesn't do anything stupid to get himself killed until we can locate him," said Hansen.

At that exact moment, high in the mountains above Honolulu, hidden among the jungle trees, Raleigh Becket was teaching Kong how to play catch.

It had taken some time before Kong trusted him enough to let him back down from the trees, but once allowed, Raleigh decided that the only thing to do to pass the time with his captor was to play with him.

"Me and my brother used to play this in the backyard all the time as kids," Raleigh explained.

Kong tilted his head, curiously.

"He's dead now," Raleigh went on, "Something... big got him."

Kong made a snorty noise.

"Anyway," said Raleigh, holding up a large coconut, "Ya just toss it like this..." He tossed the coconut at Kong, who was seated, and it just landed in front of him between his legs. Kong looked at it sitting there on the ground. He was confused.

Raleigh sighed and went and picked it up. He was closer to Kong now, so he tossed it at his stomach where it just rolled off onto the ground again.

"You have to catch it," Raleigh said. He picked it up again and sort of acted out throwing it again and then catching it himself.

"Ya got it?" he asked Kong.

Kong snorted.

"Alright," said Raleigh. He backed up some paces and threw it again and Kong reached out and snatched it in midair. When he opened his hand there was only a tiny white smear on his palm.

"I think we need a bigger ball," said Raleigh.

Kong nodded.

Raleigh looked around the clearing they were in until he spotted a small, roundish rock about the size of a basketball. It was made of lava rock, so pretty light weight, but sturdy enough that Kong might not crush it. Raleigh picked it up.

"Let's try this," he said to Kong. "Be careful now." Kong nodded as if he understood. Raleigh threw the rock and Kong snatched it quickly again, then looked at what was in his hand as if he were surprised by it.

"Now you throw it back to me," said Raleigh, gesturing for Kong to do so.

Kong looked at Raleigh, then at the rock, then at Raleigh again, who was acting out throwing, then he just kind of matter-of-factly chucked the rock as hard as he could over Raleigh's head. It flew for about half a mile and then went right over a nearby cliff and into the ocean below.

"Bro!" said Raleigh, angrily.

Kong shrugged.

"Not right," said Raleigh.

Kong didn't care, though. He looked around himself until he saw a boulder that was as big as his fist. He picked it up and hurled that over the cliff into the ocean too, then hooted and clapped his hands.

Raleigh had to duck to avoid the falling dirt and moss from the boulder.

"Not cool, Kong," he said. Kong just continued hooting and clapping moronically.

"I think that's enough catch for tonight," said Raleigh. He turned and looked out at the horizon. The sun was beginning to set into the sea, turning the sky a beautiful blue and purple and orange. "If you're not planning on taking me home anytime soon, then I suppose we should think about getting some sleep here," he said to Kong. 

Kong suddenly reached out and picked Raleigh up in one of his enormous hands. For a minute Raleigh thought it was his turn to get thrown into the ocean and he yelped, but Kong had other ideas. He laid down on his back among the leaves and bushes of the jungle floor and then placed Raleigh on his chest. Raleigh knelt down and touched Kong's fur. It was soft and surprisingly didn't smell very bad so he laid down himself and as the moon and stars came out over Honolulu, both Kong and Raleigh fell asleep and began to snore.

Back at the Shatterdome, Hansen was becoming tired and cranky.

"We need to adjourn this meeting and all get some sleep," he finally announced.

Everyone nodded except Mako. She was clearly not prepared to rest until the situation was resolved.

"Ms. Watson, if you'd like to spend the night here as a guest of the Shatterdome, you are more than welcome to an empty barracks," Hansen said to the lieutenant. 

"Thanks," said Susan. "I'd like that, but I wish you'd listen to me and Dr. Geiszler-"

"Call me Newt," said Dr. Geiszler.

"I wish you'd listen to us," Susan continued. "Kong is really a gentle giant when you get to know him."

Mako looked at the woman with sad eyes. "A kaiju, just like Kong, killed my entire family."

"Mine too," added Hansen.

"Such a creature is not capable of goodness," continued Mako.

Susan looked at Mako and Hansen sympathetically. "We all lost loved ones during those dark times," she said, gently. "My fiance, Jiro Nomura, died during the Hundun attack, but we can't let our pain blind us into hating all giant creatures. Kong is not an alien from the breach."

"Just because Kong was nice to you once upon a time, doesn't mean we can allow him to roam free where he puts every human life he encounters at risk," said Hansen. "He's already leveled half of Pearl City and he won't get a chance at the other half. That's my final word on the matter."

Susan looked dejected, but Mako looked at her marshal with pride.

"Dismissed," he added.

Geiszler immediately went up to Susan. 

"I can show you to a barracks," he said. "There's one right next to mine."

Susan went with him and Gottlieb followed them, scowling. Mako hung around for a moment, though, to talk to Hansen in private.

"Marshal," she said quietly. "If the searchers cannot find Raleigh tonight and that thing still has him by the time Gipsy is finished tomorrow, I want to take her out and find him myself. And when I find him I'm going to kill that kaiju that took him and end this once and for all."

"Dr. Geiszler is right, you can't pilot Gipsy all by yourself," said Hansen. It had been done once or twice before by certain rangers in extreme situations, emergencies, but this was not that type of situation.

"I know that," said Mako. She looked down, almost shyly. "I think you and I are of the same mind on this whole Kong matter, though, Marshal." She looked up into his eyes. "If you catch my drift."

Realization dawned on Hansen's face.

"Ah, " he said. "I think I do. Are you still wanting to talk to Dr. Jericho?"

"Oh yes," Mako said passionately.

The two soldiers made their way to the brig with single minded determination. Marching through the halls of the Shatterdome like they were going to war. When they reached the guard outside Dr. Jericho's cell, Hansen gave him the okay and Mako went inside the small anit-chamber where a chair was positioned in front of some old fashioned bars. Dr. Jericho lay on a cot on the other side of the bars, nonchalantly reading a Scientific America magazine.

"Get up," Mako ordered.

The doctor slowly put his reading material aside and sat up on the edge of his bed. He looked at Mako like she was a small fly that had buzzed into his room.

"Yes, my dear?" he said smoothly.

"I want to know what your end game was in bringing that beast into this facility," she said. Before Jericho could say anything she added, "I want to know about this mind control of yours too and anything else you've been hiding, because one way or another it's all going to come to light in the near future."

Jericho smirked. "I imagine you are very right about that, little bird," he said.

Mako became furious, but you'd never know it as no emotion showed on her face or in her body language. In fact, she smiled.

"I can stop all this you know," Jericho continued, coyly. "I can defeat Kong using the very science you and your comrades are so afraid of."

"Is Kong under your mind control right now?" asked Mako. She tried to hide the horror she was feeling, but her voice shook a bit.

"No, but I have other balls in play. I'm entitled to my little secrets," said Jericho. 

"Not anymore you're not," said Mako.

Jericho suddenly stood up and walked towards the bars.

"Let me out of here. Let me get to my lab and I will solve all your problems," he said, almost in a hiss.

Mako quickly reached through the bars and grabbed him by the collar of his purple nehru jacket.

"I can solve my own problems," Mako said through gritted teeth. "But I will tell you this; if anything happens to Raleigh Becket because of your wild animal, you'll be begging to be safely behind these bars instead of out here with me."

Hansen watched through the window in the door of the anti-chamber, laughing with pride.

Mako released the doctor and he quickly stepped away from her. 

"You can threaten me all you want, ranger, but history will prove me right. We are living in a new age. It's every man for himself. Only the smart will survive."

Mako had heard enough. She turned on her heel and walked away from Jericho and out of the anti-chamber where she met Hansen again.

"He doesn't know what he's done," she said.

"Agreed," said Hansen. "He's too concerned with whether or not he can, he hasn't even considered if he should."

Mako looked back through the window at the mad doctor as he went back to relaxing and reading his magazine.

"I just hope his callousness hasn't doomed Raleigh," she said.

"Let's pack it in for tonight," said Hansen. "You and I both need rest for the day ahead."

Mako nodded in agreement.

Several hours later, in the middle of the night, in the middle of the jungle clearing where Kong and Raleigh slept, there was a sudden sound that was so loud it overpowered the sound of all the snoring. It was the sound of helicopters flying overhead.

Raleigh was not ready to wake up, but he did open one eye and glance up to see one chopper off in the distance flying towards him. That woke him up real quick. He sat up and looked down at Kong's head. He was totally conked out. He looked back up at the chopper heading his way and for a minute he didn't know what to do. Should he stand up and signal it? If he did that it would certainly wake up Kong who would probably have a negative reaction to a loud flying machine barring down on him. On the other hand, if he didn't, then he may not be rescued. Was being rescued worth getting this dumb animal shot at by the machine guns mounted to the chopper? Of course, if he did nothing, odds were good that they'd see him, or at least Kong, when they flew over the clearing anyway. Then there'd still be shooting. He had to process all that quickly and come to a conclusion, which he did.

He very slowly crawled on Kong's chest towards his head and began kicking at his chin with his foot. Kong stopped snoring and tried to swat at Raleigh blindly. Raleigh dodged getting hit, but kept kicking until Kong opened his eyes.

"Shhh," Raleigh said, holding a finger to his lips. With his other hand he pointed up into the sky. Kong looked up and saw not one, but two helicopters. One nearer than the other. He began to make agitated noised, but Raleigh shushed him again and made calming motions with his hands.

"Don't draw attention," he whispered loudly. "Just roll over there." He pointed to some thick trees nearby that would easily hide him and Kong from an aerial view. Kong understood and began to do a sideways shimmy in that direction.

Raleigh almost lost his balance and fell, but caught himself by grabbing handfuls of Kong's long fur. After the two were safely hidden from view they both looked up to see the helicopters fly by without incident.

"They didn't see us," Raleigh said, with relief. Then to himself he said, "Wait, why is that a good thing? Why did I just save you and ruin my chances of being rescued?" He looked down at Kong and Kong looked up at him and he immediately knew why. He had always wanted a pet as a kid, but was never allowed to have one. Now, in a way, he kind of did. 

"You stupid monkey," he said to Kong.

Kong blinked.

Several more hours later, at the Shatterdome, dawn was breaking and everyone was waking up to face the challenges of the new day. One person in particular, Dr. Clifford Jericho, had an especially large agenda.

"Oh guard," he called out to the man behind the iron door that separated the room his cage was in from the rest of the facility. The guard outside opened the small window in the door and peeked inside. 

"Whaddyawant?" he asked.

"That young oriental girl seems to have left something behind in here last night," said Jericho.

"What are you talking about?" asked the guard. 

"Why don't you call her or Marshal Hansen and have them come down here and get it," Jericho said as if the guard hadn't said anything.

The door slowly unlocked and opened and the guard came into the anti-chamber.

"What is it?" he asked.

Jericho held out his hand through the bars, palm up. 

"Just a small little nothing," said Jericho.

The guard cautiously approached him and looked into his hand. Before he could realize there was, in fact, nothing there, Dr. Jericho struck like a snake and grabbed the guard by the neck with one hand. 

"I can stop this. I can stop the gorilla kaiju, but I need to get to my lab," Jericho whispered, very cordially to the gurgling guard as he pulled him into a choke hold up against the bars. "I do apologize for this, but some eggs must be broken." He snapped the guard's neck and let him fall to the floor. Then he stooped down and reached for the keys attached to the guard's belt.

After letting himself out, Dr. Jericho went straight to his lab as promised. He had every intention of helping to stop Kong, but it was going to be through means of his own design, which had nothing to do with the jaeger program.

He entered the enormous and now completely deserted lab of his in sector eleven. The huge hole at the far end stood gaping there as a reminder of his failure. There hadn't been time to repair it while all the mechanics were working on Gipsy. He looked away from it and headed immediately down the hallway near his office. The one that lead to his collection of giant containment cells housing other kaiju. Only one of which was currently awake and implanted with the necessary technology to receive his mind control commands.

Jericho looked down at the colossal yellow and black spider with the glowing purple eyes known as Kumonga and laughed.

"One of your brethren has gone rogue," he said to the kaiju, which could certainly not understand him. "But that's okay. We don't need him. You will be more than enough proof that my technology works when you take down the new threat all by yourself. Then I will be able to complete my work and eventually build my own private army of monsters. Once I have that, I can rule the world."

Kumonga rubbed its pincers together as thick, poisonous saliva dripped from its maw.

"Time to go outside," Dr. Jericho continued. "Time to stretch your legs."

He pressed a button on the wall nearby and the back wall of Kumonga's enclosure began to open like a garage door. The soft morning sunlight outside poured in, which made Kumonga turn around to face the warmth. Cautiously it began to creep forward, one leg at a time.

"Go on, my friend," urged Dr. Jericho.

The spider was timid at first, but once it set foot onto the soft earthy ground outside it became more bold and quickly scurried off into the nearby trees.

"Now they'll see whether I'm crazy or not," yelled Jericho, loudly. Then he laughed and laughed.


End file.
